A good orator does not necessary make a good leader.Hitler was one such person. He was imprisoned after a failed coup d'etat (Beer Hall Putsch). During his time in prison he wrote his memoir, Mein Kempf (My Struggle).
He gained popular support after his release from prison and became the Chancellor in 1933 and transformed Germany as the Third Reich.He was a charmer, a charismatic orator that eventually became the most notorious beast, a monstrous and murderous dictator of the modern era. He murdered 11 million people including 6 million Jews.Many more millions died fighting the war.
Hitler did not suffer from any mental disorder, he was just a clever conniving, ruthless and needless to say, a person who was just born bad.
Sometimes, a leader we least expected to be bad can become a monster when given too much power. Of recent time, Pol Pot of Cambodia killed almost 2 million of his own people within a spate of less than four years.It took the Cambodians many years to recover the aftermath of the genocidal regime.
Take Africa and the Middle East, almost two-thirds of the region had been or still under the rules of despotic leaders. These countries are ripe for revolutions and the Middle East countries have seen conflagration of uprisings involving Tunisia,Egypt,Libya,Yemen,Bahrain and ongoing uprising in Syria, which has become as bloody as the Libyan revolution.
Clearly, the Western powers are not prepared to intervene where there is no oil and Western interests at stake.Assad is at liberty to do what he likes, including killing the innocents to instill fear in the population.He may end up same as Qaddafi or able to put down the rebellion with high human cost.Over a hundred people are killed everyday.
Saudi Arabia is the next hotspot, volatile for change.At the moment the kingdom has managed to contain the discontentment by bribing the people with cash handouts, it may not be this year, it may not be next year, but it will come. As Brutus says "not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more". History has shown brutal regime cannot stand for long.
The Asean region have had its share of dictators and bad leaders, it has seen two dictators brought down by people's power, Marcos of Philippines and Suharto of Indonesia.When it come to human right abuses they are mild compared to Arab leaders who are prepared to perpetrate iniquity to stay in power.Criticising the leaders is a crime and political prisoners are regularly tortured in those godforsaken countries.
No matter what the opposition and the Western press tell you about Malaysia, our government is not as brutal as those countries, physical torture of political prisoners are not common occurrences here as in Africa and the Middle East.Malaysia do not have political prisoners languishing in prison for long period of time.Most of those detained under ISA were considered security risk to the nation or involved in terrorist activities.Sometimes, the ISA is a necessary evil.
Almost all the tyrants and despots of the so-called democratic world were put there by the people and allowed to have absolute power to run the country as they deemed fit until the people found out that their mouths are muffled and their freedom restricted and those opposing the regime either gone missing or in prison.
The Arab Spring gained momentum due to social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs.These sites can provide instant information and can be updated anytime.The alternative media is now the media of choice providing the people the thirst for political gobbledygook.
In Malaysia the anti-government blogs get more visits than pro-government blogs.Even in Singapore, considered squeaky clean and excellent government the Internet has played a role in helping to swing opinion against the government.The PAP popular vote declined by 6.46% from its 2006 elections to 60.14%, the lowest since independence, losing 6 seats to the opposition Worker's Party.
If excellent government can suffer unforeseen and unexpected decline in its popularity what awaits the less than excellent ones.
The results of the March 2008 General Elections were indicative of the powers of the Internet and its influence on the masses, particularly, the youth.Malaysian homes are well wired especially in urban and semi-urban areas. The alternative media have become the media of choice for most Malaysians. The Malaysian government ignoring the alternative media at its own perils.
Anwar Ibrahim was all excited talking about a Malaysian version of the Arab Spring if Pakatan don't make it to Putrajaya. His insatiability for power and to be prime minister had taken over his good sense.Majority of Malaysians are more level-headed than he assumed.They will not go on to the streets to topple a duly elected government.
Pakatan leaders, instead of telling Malaysians what they can and will do for the people if they form the next Federal government, spent more time on witch-hunting, self-aggrandizing and distributing lie-goodies to the people
Be careful of wolf in sheep clothing and whom you elect to lead this country.
Chop Suey, shap sui or za sui, does it matter, they are all the same!
